Sweet Potato and Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

My husband and I make a fine family of nerds. Yes, we bought tickets to the opening night of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Monday (eeeeee!). And on the way home from work today, our conversation went something like this:

Me: I have to do a blog post when we get home.
Zach: What are you going to write about?Me: Sweet potato shepherd’s pie!Zach: Yum! SPSP!Me: SP squared!Him: Actually, it would be parentheses SP parentheses squared.

Can you tell we are both high school teachers?

And so, I present to you, Sweet Potato (and ground turkey) Shepherd’s Pie. AKA SPSP. AKA (SP)². You don’t have to be a nerd like us to enjoy this easy to make, delicious, comforting, simple, and healthy casserole!

Every time I crave warm comfort food, I always make the same thing: shepherd’s pie. Oh goodness, it’s good. Good in that really, simple way that comfort food is known for.

A while ago, when Bowl of Delicious was still very young, I posted about Simple Shepherd’s Pie. This is a lighter, healthier take on the same recipe with sweet potatoes instead of white (which have more nutrients and fewer carbs) and ground turkey instead of ground beef (which is a leaner meat). Plus, some fresh thyme thrown in the mix to add deeper flavor.

It’s simple, delicious, healthy, and oh so comforting. And the best part? It’s a make-ahead meal, meaning you can assemble it on the weekend and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes when you are ready to eat. Or better yet: make two on the weekend, freeze one, and cook the other that week! You’ll just have to defrost the frozen one in the fridge overnight before cooking it at a later date.

Now. The way I make it is a bit non-traditional: it does not include gravy.

Right now you are probably thinking: Gasp! No gravy?! You must be crazy! And you know what? Maybe I am. Because gravy is potentially the most amazing substance on the face of this great earth. But I’ve never made shepherd’s pie any other way. This is the way my mom made it when I was growing up, and the way I’ll continue to make it. Because even though it doesn’t have gravy, it’s still DELICIOUS, uses fewer ingredients than a traditional shepherd’s pie, and is easier to make.

Sweet Potato and Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

This shepherd’s pie is the ultimate comfort food: simpler and easier to make than a traditional one, and healthier with sweet potatoes and ground turkey.

Author:Elizabeth Lindemann

Prep Time:15 mins

Cook Time:30 mins

Total Time:45 mins

Yield:41x

Scale

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter, divided

1 onion, diced

1 lb. ground turkey

salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, plus more for garnish

2 cups chopped carrots, corn, and peas mixture (frozen or fresh)

2 large sweet potatoes, cubed*

Instructions

Steam sweet potatoes until tender.

Meanwhile, saute onions and turkey in a skillet in 1 tablespoon butter until browned and cooked through. Season with salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme.

Transfer cooked turkey and onions to a casserole dish. Add to the skillet the carrots, peas, and corn and saute until slightly browned and starting to cook through (about 3 minutes). Transfer vegetables to casserole dish and spread out on top of turkey/onion mixture.

When sweet potatoes are done steaming, remove from steamer and mash in a medium bowl with a potato masher with 2 tablespoons butter, salt, pepper, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of thyme. Spread mashed sweet potatoes on top of vegetables in casserole dish.

Dot the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter (add more if you want to!) and extra thyme leaves.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until beginning to brown on top and heated completely through.

Notes

* I always leave my potatoes unpeeled. For one thing, peeling potatoes is the most horrible cooking task in the world, and for another thing, the peels are full of fiber and nutrients! Just be sure to wash the peels thoroughly before using.

I made this tonight and really enjoyed it!! My husband liked it too, and our 2 year old did too.

I found after beginning assembly that my 9×9 dish would not be big enough — I wouldn’t have been able to fit the potatoes in. I guess my dish isn’t as deep as your typical 9×9″ casserole dish. Next time I’ll probably halve the recipe and make it in the 9×9, especially if it’s just the three of us, but for this time I used a 9×13 which worked great.

My husband’s only complaint was that the pie was very sweet. He suggested steaming one sweet potato and one white or red potato and mashing them together to cut the sweetness. I might give that a try next time.

Oooh I just made this last night, and it’s such perfect comfort food. I spiced it up (literally) even more with some sage and rosemary and loved it. Just out of curiosity, if you were going to include gravy, do you happen to have suggestions for what you would do?? Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!

So glad you liked it! If you want to do a gravy with the meat mixture, it’s super easy. Just add little flour (about 2 tablespoons) to the meat in the skillet after it’s done cooking and stir to coat. Then, gradually add 1 cup of chicken or beef broth to the skillet. Stir and continue to heat up until it’s thickened. You can also add the veggies into the mix if you want rather than layering them separately. Hope that helps!

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Hi, I'm Elizabeth! I create easy, real food recipes for busy people. I'm a former high school art teacher from New England, now full time food blogger near Austin, TX, where I live with my hubby and two baby girls, Zoey and Eleanor. Learn more!

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Hello! I’m so glad you’re here.

Hi, I'm Elizabeth! I create easy, real food recipes for busy people. I'm a former HS art teacher, now full time food blogger. I live near Austin, TX with my hubby and two baby girls. learn more!

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